Language update

The Peace Corps recently asked me to participate in a focus group consisting of volunteers along with directors of the Youth Centers in which volunteers work. The meeting was run by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the division of the Moroccan government with which the Peace Corps works, and was intended to help Peace Corps and the government work together to develop a countrywide curriculum that supports shared goals and objectives for Moroccan youth. 

I was very excited to be involved in the project because I want to get involved in the strategy behind our programming, and I want to help provide resources for Peace Corps volunteers in meeting our goals and objectives. My excitement waned a little (okay, a lot) when I found out a crucial piece of information: The focus group would be held entirely in Darija (Moroccan Arabic). These days I have no problem using Darija in my classes, when I go to the market, greeting people on the streets, or just hanging out with friends - but I'm pretty sure that there is a whole branch of the language starting with the word "curriculum" that I have never used before.

We did have a bit of translation help in the meeting fortunately, but even without it, I ended up feeling really grateful for the experience. Why? Well, it got me out of my everyday language rut ("I'll have 1 kilo of tomatoes, please") and forced me both to use my language in a different way, and to listen carefully and even learn a few new words. Here are a few new additions to my vocabulary:

 

The focus group experience, while daunting at first, motivated me to find ways week to week to get out of my comfort zone, learn new vocabulary, and use my language in new and interesting ways. In the spirit of learning new things, I thought I would teach a few words in Moroccan Arabic that I most commonly use. If you recall from this early blog post, I included a few greeting words, so this is Lesson #2!

- Shnu smitk? - What is your name?

- Smiti Layla. - My name is Layla. (That's my name here, since it's easier to pronounce than Lauren. It's starting to grow on me!)

- Mtshrfeen. - Nice to meet you.

- Shukran. - Thank you.

- Aefek. - Please.

- Bslama! - Goodbye!

- Dar Shabab - Youth Center (this is where I work)

- Mudir (if a male), Mudira (if a female) - the Director of the Youth Center

- B Shwiya eafak - Slowly please (this is one we use a LOT!)

So study up on your Darija (particularly Mom and Dad Weinrich and Mom and Dad Bernstein who are visiting us in the upcoming months)... I'll be quizzing you on these soon!!

A training update

The weeks are going by faster and faster! It has now been 5 weeks since Justin and I arrived in Morocco, though it feels like months with all that we have done and learned. In 2 weeks, we will find out our permanent site placement for the next 2 years, and in 1 month, we will (hopefully) be sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers and leave for our final site. 

I’m very much looking forward to having my own space and exploring a new community, but there’s a LOT to do in our training site between now and then. Every 2 weeks a new “Phase” of training ends and a new one starts (there are 4 Phases total). Right now I am in Fes with our full training group to mark the end of Phase 2 and the beginning of Phase 3. In Phase 2, we conducted in-depth community assessment work to try to understand some of the issues that youth in our community are facing (we are Youth Development volunteers, so all of our work is very youth-focused). We had a number of interviews and meetings with community leaders along with creative exercises with youth. 

The 2 most pronounced concerns for youth that have come out of our assessment work are education (primarily English education) and empowerment of women. In our community, students are only required to go to school through the 6th grade. We have a school for students from the 7-9th grades but many students in the community are not able to continue going to school, typically because they must work outside or inside of the home to help the family. There is no high school in the town, so after 9th grade, students have to take a bus or taxi every day to Fes to continue their education. For most families, this is a financial strain and there are also concerns for girls’ security, so few students in the community continue their education after 9th grade. Particularly for women, there’s not a lot of encouragement for education or the pursuit of their skills and talents. In my host family, I have two sisters age 16 and 17 who are no longer in school but are working in a women’s center in the community that is helping them train to become dressmakers… but in many families girls don’t even have these opportunities. 

Our group is planning a program at the end of our training to help address the issues of education and female empowerment. I’m planning an activity geared toward young girls, helping them to think about and discuss their individual talents or talents/skills that they would like to learn, in an open and supportive environment. It’s a bit frustrating that we are only in the community for another month and as such there is only so much that we can do for them, but at the same time I’m happy that we’re able to give something and to gain lessons that will help us in our permanent site.

 More to come on our training and the program planning as the weeks go by! I’ll end with a few more photos from the past week:

View of our community from the mountain - so beautiful!

My host sisters dressed me up on
Sunday in a traditional Moroccan dress!

Then they paraded me around town
and got me some henna - on the side
of my hand is "Layla," my Moroccan name here :)

An example of a daily "traffic jam"
in our community :)

your weekly allotment of food photos!
This is a tagine with kfta, onions
and olives... soooo good!

I miss everyone very much, and hope all is well!